I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a pavement 
that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very small 
front gardens.

Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens and 
the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens and 
are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when the 
cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.

The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an unadopted 
road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.

Are they right? Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas?

On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 10:35:05 +0100, Liz J put finger to keyboard and
typed:

>I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a pavement 
>that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very small 
>front gardens.
>
>Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens and 
>the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens and 
>are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when the 
>cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.
>
>The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an unadopted 
>road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.
>
>Are they right? 

Yes.

>Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas? 

No.

The relevent authority is the owner of the road. Find out who that is,
and complain to them.

Mark
-- 
My rather pointless blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
My less pointless stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

>> Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas? 
> No.

Would it be different if there was a right of way over the road?

"Mark Goodge"  wrote in message 
news:oap4c413l75firctco8ddatdvcb3lqv30b@news.markshouse.net...
> On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 10:35:05 +0100, Liz J put finger to keyboard and
> typed:
>
>>I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a pavement
>>that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very small
>>front gardens.
>>
>>Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens and
>>the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens 
>>and
>>are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when the
>>cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.
>>
>>The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an unadopted
>>road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.
>>
>>Are they right?
>
> Yes.
>
>>Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas?
>
> No.
>
> The relevent authority is the owner of the road. Find out who that is,
> and complain to them.

In 99% of the cases it will be the owner of the house next to it.  This 
won't get the OP very far

tim

On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 12:50:09 +0100, a@b.invalid put finger to keyboard
and typed:

>>> Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas? 
>> No.
>
>Would it be different if there was a right of way over the road?

It might be an offence if the right of way is specifically along the
footpath (ie, it's a pedestrian right of way only, and the footpath
follows its route) and, by blocking the footpath, users of the right
of way are being forced to use the road (which is not a right of way
for them as it's a private road with no public right of way along it).

Otherwise, if the right of way is along the route of the road in
general and it is not blocked entirely, no offence has been committed.
The owner of a road or path which forms a right of way is merely
required to ensure that it is passable; he has no obligation to
maintain it to the standards of a publicly-owned road or path. 

Mark
-- 
My rather pointless blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
My less pointless stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 12:55:18 +0100, tim..... put finger to keyboard
and typed:

>
>"Mark Goodge"  wrote in message 
>news:oap4c413l75firctco8ddatdvcb3lqv30b@news.markshouse.net...
>> On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 10:35:05 +0100, Liz J put finger to keyboard and
>> typed:
>>
>>>I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a pavement
>>>that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very small
>>>front gardens.
>>>
>>>Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens and
>>>the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens 
>>>and
>>>are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when the
>>>cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.
>>>
>>>The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an unadopted
>>>road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.
>>>
>>>Are they right?
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>>>Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas?
>>
>> No.
>>
>> The relevent authority is the owner of the road. Find out who that is,
>> and complain to them.
>
>In 99% of the cases it will be the owner of the house next to it.  This 
>won't get the OP very far

Possibly. But it might (if it's a fairly new build) be owned by the
developer of the estate, or it could be owned by a specific property
along the route (eg, if it's a road leading to a former manor house,
farm or something similar that has subsequently had houses built
alongside it), or it might well be owned by some form of residents'
association. So it's worth checking, in case there is someone who can
be approached about the parking situation.

In the long term, of course, the OP could campaign for the road to be
adopted by the local council. 

Mark
-- 
My rather pointless blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
My less pointless stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

"Mark Goodge"  wrote in message 
news:oap4c413l75firctco8ddatdvcb3lqv30b@news.markshouse.net...
> On Sat,  6 Sep 2008 10:35:05 +0100, Liz J put finger to keyboard and
> typed:
>
>>I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a pavement
>>that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very small
>>front gardens.
>>
>>Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens and
>>the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens 
>>and
>>are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when the
>>cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.
>>
>>The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an unadopted
>>road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.
>>
>>Are they right?
>
> Yes.
>
>>Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas?
>
> No.
>
> The relevent authority is the owner of the road. Find out who that is,
> and complain to them.
>
> Mark
> -- 
> My rather pointless blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
> My less pointless stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

Thanks Mark

I rather hoped that someone would have the authority to stop the destruction 
of the only safe passage down the road.  All pedestrians now have to walk 
down the middle of the road and squeeze themselves between parked cars if a 
vehicle comes up the road.  To be honest, most people already did that but 
as someone who brought up children whilst living in this road, it was good 
to be able to use the safe pavement until they were old enough to be able to 
cope with dodging traffic.  I was also anticipating needing the pavement 
when I got old and feeble!

The road is owned by the owners of the houses so I assume from what you say 
that the owners mentioned actually own the pavement in front of their 
houses.

Liz J wrote:
> The road is owned by the owners of the houses so I assume from what you say 
> that the owners mentioned actually own the pavement in front of their 
> houses. 

Not necessarily, they might all jointly own the whole road, or the deeds 
might say that each other household has full right of access to the 
whole road.

IANAL

Owain

"Owain"  wrote in message 
news:HsidnQrZMcB0Ql7VnZ2dnUVZ8sTinZ2d@posted.plusnet...
> Liz J wrote:
>> The road is owned by the owners of the houses so I assume from what you 
>> say that the owners mentioned actually own the pavement in front of their 
>> houses.
>
> Not necessarily, they might all jointly own the whole road, or the deeds 
> might say that each other household has full right of access to the whole 
> road.

They may, but it seems unlikely that the person living in number 7 would try 
to stop the person in number 5 parking his car across the pavement in these 
circumstances.  No 7 may want to reserve his right to do likewise

tim

Liz:

As previous correspondents have indicated, the key question is who owns
(or used to own) the relevant land.

Have a look at    www.tpr.net/land

We specialise in tracing owners of forgotten roads.   We can't always
promise success: but as we don't charge you anything to find out, and
it may resolve uncertainty, you may be interested.

The problem of roads (and paths and yards) of uncertain ownership is a
recurring problem.  But there are clear legal processes that can be
invoked to resolve most cases, depending on the particular history of
the land in question.





Liz J;560701 Wrote: 
> I live in an unadopted road.  On one side of the road there is a
> pavement 
> that is quite high.  On that side of the road, the houses have very
> small 
> front gardens.
> 
> Two of the houses on that side of the road have lowered their gardens
> and 
> the pavement in front o their houses.  They have paved over the gardens
> and 
> are using it for parking their cars.  As the garden is so small, when
> the 
> cars are parked, the pavement is totally covered.
> 
> The council say that they have no problem with this as it is an
> unadopted 
> road.  If it were an adopted road they would stop this use.
> 
> Are they right? Do councils have no jurisdiciton in these areas?




-- 
Richard Davies